


The Best Thing About Me

by IWillBeTheEndofYou



Series: The Domestic Lives Of Figure Skaters [18]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Consideration, Cuddling, Fear, Found Family, Ice Skating, M/M, Podium Family, Raising kids, Therapy, being a good parent, long thoughts, loving someone through it, parents love their kids, platonic snuggling, the aftermath, the most important thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-12 10:41:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29009199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IWillBeTheEndofYou/pseuds/IWillBeTheEndofYou
Summary: "...and to pray the fervent prayers which only mothers utter." -Little Women, Louisa May AlcottIn the aftermath of Kids in the Dark, Yuuri thinks about all the things that Yuri has come to mean to him.
Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov
Series: The Domestic Lives Of Figure Skaters [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2046686
Comments: 18
Kudos: 115





	The Best Thing About Me

**Author's Note:**

> Several people recommended something like this, so here it is!

If you had asked several months ago, Yuuri Katsuki-Nikiforov would have told you the scariest thing he had ever done was letting Victor be his coach. Going back to the ice after that last Grand Prix... he knew what people had thought of him. He knew what people expected of him.

If you asked Yuuri now, he'd tell you the scariest thing was agreeing to take Yuri in. It was true that he had already loved the boy. He'd told him once that he loved him when he saw him skating Agape, and that was true. In that moment, he'd known that the kid needed love. And while he didn't doubt for one second that Nikolai Plisetsky loved his grandchild, that wasn't exactly what Yuri needed. But he had been afraid that love alone wouldn't be enough to make him and Victor good parental figures. 

If you asked Yuuri Katsuki-Nikiforov what the scariest thing to ever happen to him was, he'd have to pause. He would struggle to decide what it really was, although anything to do with skating was off the list now. Before he would have told you it was when he and Yuri competed to see who Victor would work with. Presenting Eros was terrifying. But now... now the things that had happened blew that out of the water.

There was the time that Yuri had snuck out of the house. He knew that these things were to be expected. And he knew that Yuri was very upset with him. He didn't think it was as bad as the time they'd fought over him going out, and they'd said nasty things to each other.

The night Yuri snuck out, he had tried to sleep. He had tossed and turned, pulled the blanket up and thrown it off. He had told Yuri goodnight, but it just didn't feel right. His whole body itched with the wrongness of all of it. He didn't like going to bed this way. He didn't like feeling like things were left unsaid. He just didn't like the boy being mad at him.

He wanted to tell him good night one more time. Surely Yuri was upset, too. He knew he hadn't really been asleep when he'd come and told him goodnight earlier, and he had thought that saying that to him would be enough to soothe both of them. It hadn't worked on him, though. Maybe if he slipped in now, Yuri would be awake and ready to talk. And that would make the both of them feel better, wouldn't it?

“Where are you going, my love?” Victor stirred when Yuuri threw the bedding back and put his feet on the floor. He reached out sleepily, wanting his husband to curl back into bed with him. Yuuri just rubbed the back of his neck as he shoved his feet into slippers.

“I just wanna talk to Yurio.” he felt a little silly. There were some things that were better left until everyone had calmed down. But this was eating at him. He wanted Yuri to understand. Of course, you couldn't really make someone understand, especially not someone as stubborn as their Yuri.

“I think you'd be better served leaving him alone if you don't want your head bitten off.” Victor laughed softly. Yuuri shuffled down to his ward's room in his slippers. He knocked softly at the door.

“Yura? Can we talk?” there was no answer. He sighed. “I know you're angry with me, and I understand why...” he trailed off. “I just want to try and talk to you about it.”

There was still silence. He figured the kid had sulked himself to sleep. He thought for a second. He wanted to just see him for a second, maybe kiss him good night. So he cracked the door open, stepped inside. The bedding was rumpled enough. He tiptoed closer, reaching his hand out for the bedding. He only wanted to feel the warmth of him, feel the steady rhythm of his breathing.

“I'm sorry that we couldn't work it out, sweetheart.” he said as he put his hand down. “I love you, and--.” the blankets were cold. He pressed just a little, and the blankets gave. He froze and ripped the blankets away.

The bed was empty.

Yuuri stumbled back, nearly tripping over his feet. His breath came hard and hot in his chest. He backed away until he hit the wall outside Yuri's door. He gasped and choked a few times, trying to settle enough to call for Victor. He slid down, hand pressed to his chest.

“VICTOR!” he finally managed to scream.

That night had been difficult. The next day had been hard, with him feeling like he was walking through molasses. But the apologies had helped. And he had felt that maybe they came back from it stronger. 

Maybe now the scariest thing though was that phone call. Victor ringing his phone, him answering it just as he fluffed the pillow behind his Mom. Listening to the rapid speech. Kidnapping, ransom, Yurio. He was out of the room, snatching his bag before Victor could even finish speaking. He shoved Mari from her laptop, face determined, pulling up the airline site.

The ticket was paid for before he hung up. He quickly told his family the situation. Mama demanded that he take some of the snacks she had set aside for Yurio. Toshiya looked deeply disturbed, and Mari made him promise to call as soon as he knew anything.

The cab ride to the airport, the flight, were all a blur. Victor called him as soon as he was off the plane, assuring him that their kid was laying on the couch right now. He had some bruising, a cut lip. But he was in one piece. He was insisting that he wanted Yuuri, though. 

And when he arrive and dropped his bags at the door, his husband and child were asleep in the living room. Victor's eyes snapped open as soon as he heard him, his body going tight. He was ready to launch himself out of the chair. He melted when he saw his husband.

Yuuri came and kissed him, letting Victor wrap his arms around his neck. He kissed Victor's cheek, inhaled the smell of his husband for a second.

“Thank you for bringing Yuri back home.” he whispered.

“I would do no less for you.” Victor said softly and sweetly, like he had spoken to him on their wedding day. There was a promise there, deep inside. Victor had brought Yuri home from a bad situation before, and he always would.

And then he went to kneel by his child, laying sleeping on the couch. He leaned in close, breathed him in. He was here, alive and real. Yuuri pressed a kiss to his forehead, let his fingers run through his hair, trace his face. He took in the dark bruises that blossomed like flowers of rage on his face. The swelling of his perfect lips.

The eyelids lifted, and he was once again lost in pools of green. Those eyes went wide, and the child's arms were soon around him. He felt his heart return to the normal rate for the first time since the phone call. He felt his own lungs expand, his blood finally cooling.

Yuri was okay. Yuri was here, with him, in their home. And soon enough, he was sleeping in the bed that he and Victor shared. Yuri was curled tightly in his arms, his head on his chest. Yuuri didn't sleep, still stroking back that golden hair. He brooded over his child, looking so small and lost laying there in that king size bed.

“Are you okay?” Victor came into the room, keeping his voice low to not disturb the sleeping boy. He climbed into the bed, pressing up against Yuuri's other side. They laid together in the big bed.

“How could something like that happen?” Yuuri kissed Yuri's temple.

“I don't know.”

“How is he ever going to be okay again? You said that he was finally making friends. How is he ever going to be okay with doing that again?” 

“I don't know, my love.” Victor said again.

“How am I ever going to be okay with him leaving my sight again?” he swallowed.

“I don't know, Yuuri.” Victor kissed him. “I think that maybe all of us could benefit from talking to someone else. You have questions that I'm not able to answer. He's going to have questions that we're not going to be able to answer. We owe it to him and ourselves to make sure we're all in a healthy place.”

A therapist then. He was unsure how they would ever get Yuri to go. He was not the type of person who seemed open to the idea. He was so closed. They'd have to figure out some way to get him to go. Well, while they were all at risk to Yuri's puppy eyes, Yuuri knew how to appeal to him and act pathetic enough. He wasn't afraid to do whatever it took to keep him safe and healthy.

“I never thought anything like this was going to happen. We promised Nikolai that he'd be safe.”

“We did.” Victor agreed. “And we've done everything we reasonably can. I called Nikolai. He isn't angry at us. He as the right to be, but he isn't. He's worried about Yuri. And us.”

“Us?”

“He knows how I worry. He knows you could wrap yourself in guilt and anxiety. He doesn't want you to focus on that. He wants you to be grateful that things turned out this way and not the other way that it easily could have gone.”

“I felt so helpless.” Yuuri admitted. “When you called me. The first thing I could do was rush here, and I did so. I didn't even look at the price of my ticket. I just bought it and came.”

“I wouldn't have expected you to do anything else.” Victor was smiling at him. He felt some warmth in his heart for the first time in several days. 

“I'm surprised you didn't fly over and beat the shit out of the kid that took him.”

“It would not have done me well.” he sighed. “Although I have to admit I did think about it. He wasn't so scary when he was getting handcuffed. Snot pouring down his face everything.” he snorted.

“Why did he do that to Yuri, though? What possessed him to do it?”

“Homophobia was part of it. That makes what he did a hate crime.”

“Yuri's never said that he's--.”

“No, against us. Part of it was against us, Yuuri. He had looked us up after meeting with Yuri and...” he trailed off and sighed. “Part of it was something that Yuri had done, spilling a beer on his shoes.   
And maybe jealousy of a girl paying attention to him.” he sighed.   
“Young men rarely make good choices when they're heated up like that. You know this.” Yuuri did know this. It didn't help anything that happened, though. He knew he should give that child some grace, as he'd want grace given to his. But it was difficult to think of.

“He could have blown his knee out. Or worse.”

“We're all very luck that he didn't.” Victor agreed. “You should try and sleep, at least for a little bit. You're going to get exhausted and hysterical, and then you'll be of no use to Yura or me. Please? I'm right here, I'm watching you both.”

That was enough to know that Yuri would be safe. He closed his eyes, exhausted and worried.

If you asked Yuuri Katsuki-Nikoforva what the most frightening thing he'd ever done was, it would be to take care of Yuri. To know that he was responsible for the young man's well being. To know that he had to feed him, water him, these things were simple. But the care and keeping of his heart, his mind, of making sure that he made good choices. These things were more intense, scary. To keep talking to him, to open these communications. 

If you asked what was the best thing he'd ever done, he might have saying marrying Victor. But he was more likely to say agreeing to take care of Yuri.

And if you asked what the most important thing he'd ever done was, he would tell you it was taking care of Yuri.

It was always back to Yuri.


End file.
